The Bible is full of imagery of flowers, blossoms, wreaths, and garlands. This post will discover the deeper meaning behind flowers in the Bible by quoting relevant verses and analyzing overarching themes.
Photo by Priscilla Du Preez
God created the sweet flowers
Genesis 1:11
Then God said, “Let the land produce vegetation: seed-bearing plants and trees on the land that bear fruit with seed in it, according to their various kinds.” And it was so.
According to the Bible, God spoke flowers into being. Imagine the beautiful words coming from the Maker’s mouth as all these wonderful colors, shapes, and creations sprung to life and covered the Earth…
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The book of the Bible called Song of Solomon (also known as Song of Songs) is a work of art. Intricate poems gather on the pages as a grand metaphor where God is the husband and His people is the bride.
Song of Solomon 2:1-2
She:I am a rose of Sharon, a lily of the valleys. He: Like a lily among thorns is my darling among the young women.
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She: My beloved spoke and said to me, “Arise, my darling, my beautiful one, come with me. See! The winter is past; the rains are over and gone. Flowers appear on the earth; the season of singing has come, the cooing of doves is heard in our land. The fig tree forms its early fruit; the blossoming vines spread their fragrance. Arise, come, my darling; my beautiful one, come with me.”
Song of Solomon 4:12;16
He: You are a garden locked up, my sister, my bride; you are a spring enclosed, a sealed fountain. She: Awake, north wind, and come, south wind!Blow on my garden, that its fragrance may spread everywhere. Let my beloved come into his garden and taste its choice fruits.
Song of Solomon 6:2-3
She: My beloved has gone down to his garden, to the beds of spices, to browse in the gardens and to gather lilies. I am my beloved’s and my beloved is mine; he browses among the lilies.
Intricate flower designs and carved work in the Bible
The Creator God cares about beauty. He is the God who brings beauty from ashes and He plants gardens in graveyards.
Ezekiel 36:33-38 (in the Message Translation):
“People will exclaim, “Why, this weed patch has been turned into a Garden of Eden! And the ruined cities, smashed into oblivion, are now thriving!” The nations around you that are still in existence will realize that I, God, rebuild ruins and replant empty waste places.”
Make a lampstand of pure gold. Hammer out its base and shaft, and make its flowerlike cups, buds and blossoms of one piece with them. Six branches are to extend from the sides of the lampstand—three on one side and three on the other. Three cups shaped like almond flowers with buds and blossoms are to be on one branch, three on the next branch, and the same for all six branches extending from the lampstand.And on the lampstand there are to be four cups shaped like almond flowers with buds and blossoms. One bud shall be under the first pair of branches extending from the lampstand, a second bud under the second pair, and a third bud under the third pair—six branches in all. The buds and branches shall all be of one piece with the lampstand, hammered out of pure gold.
1 Kings 7 and 2 Chronicles 4 also describes the floral work in Solomon’s Temple. The blossoms described here are almond blossoms.
1 Kings 6:18 and 29
The inside of the temple was cedar, carved with gourds and open flowers. Everything was cedar; no stone was to be seen. On the walls all around the temple, in both the inner and outer rooms, he carved cherubim, palm trees and open flowers.
Verses 32 and 35 also describe the doors of the temple had similar floral patterns on them.
Flowers in the Bible are also a sign of God’s provision
Luke 12:25-28
Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to your life? Since you cannot do this very little thing, why do you worry about the rest? Consider how the wild flowers grow. They do not labor or spin. Yet I tell you, not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today, and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, how much more will he clothe you—you of little faith!
The Gospel according to Matthew chapter 6:27-30 captures this same teaching of Jesus – almost word for word.
Zechariah 10:1
Ask the Lord for rain in the springtime; it is the Lord who sends the thunderstorms. He gives showers of rain to all people, and plants of the field to everyone.
Deuteronomy 32:2
Let my teaching fall like rain and my words descend like dew, like showers on new grass, like abundant rain on tender plants.
Hosea 14:4-6
I will heal their waywardness and love them freely, for my anger has turned away from them. I will be like the dew to Israel; he will blossom like a lily. Like a cedar of Lebanon he will send down his roots; his young shoots will grow. His splendor will be like an olive tree, his fragrance like a cedar of Lebanon.
This passage continues with a description of a fir tree and it describes that fruitfulness follows blossoming flowers. Fruit is an important theme in Christianity. Jesus said you can know someone by their fruit and Paul described the Fruit of the Spirit. However, before there can be any fruit, there has to be a flower. And, for there to be a flower, the plant needs to have living water (John 4, Psalm 1) and abide in the vine (John 15).
Psalm 104:13-16
He waters the mountains from his upper chambers; the land is satisfied by the fruit of his work. He makes grass grow for the cattle, and plants for people to cultivate— bringing forth food from the earth: wine that gladdens human hearts, oil to make their faces shine, and bread that sustains their hearts. The trees of the Lord are well watered, the cedars of Lebanon that he planted.
Photo by Aziz Acharki
The parable of the seeds and a flourishing life
Jesus also taught using metaphors and images. He spoke about seeds and growth and plants all the time! Perhaps because such metaphors are timeless and they cross cultural boundaries, or perhaps because flowers really do carry special significance…
Matthew 13:3-8
A farmer went out to sow his seed. As he was scattering the seed, some fell along the path, and the birds came and ate it up. Some fell on rocky places, where it did not have much soil. It sprang up quickly, because the soil was shallow. But when the sun came up, the plants were scorched, and they withered because they had no root. Other seed fell among thorns, which grew up and choked the plants. Still other seed fell on good soil, where it produced a crop—a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown.
Mark 4:3-8 and Luke 8:5-8 tell the same parable almost word for word. The parable of the seeds is interesting because it describes a person’s faith formation journey using plant metaphors. Paul also echoed this kind of talking a lot when he would say things like we need to grow in Christlikeness (1 Corinthians 11). Let’s consider a beautiful description of the role that God truly plays in the parable of the seeds.
1 Corinthians 3:6-9
I planted the seed, Apollos watered it, but God has been making it grow. So neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything, but only God, who makes things grow. The one who plants and the one who waters have one purpose, and they will each be rewarded according to their own labor. For we are co-workers in God’s service; you are God’s field, God’s building.
Wisdom is like a garland of flowers in the Bible
The book of Proverbs says that wisdom and understanding lead to life. It also says that wisdom is like a beautiful flower garland.
Proverbs 1:8-9
Listen, my son, to your father’s instruction and do not forsake your mother’s teaching. They are a garland to grace your head and a chain to adorn your neck.
Proverbs 4:7-9
Get wisdom. Though it cost all you have, get understanding. Cherish her, and she will exalt you; embrace her, and she will honor you. She will give you a garland to grace your head and present you with a glorious crown.
The flower fadeth and the grass withereth
One of the most popular images of flowers in the Bible is the idea that beauty and splendor fade like a flower that is here today and gone tomorrow. This is a massive theme throughout Scripture. Think of Jonah’s comforting cucumber plant that God provided so he would have shade and how it was devoured by a worm overnight! (Jonah 4) There is a theme of plants being temporary and God being unchanging that winds throughout the whole Word (and world)…
Isaiah 5:22
Therefore, as tongues of fire lick up straw and as dry grass sinks down in the flames, so their roots will decay and their flowers blow away like dust; for they have rejected the law of the Lord Almighty and spurned the word of the Holy One of Israel.
Isaiah 17:10-11
You have forgotten God your Savior; you have not remembered the Rock, your fortress. Therefore, though you set out the finest plants and plant imported vines, though on the day you set them out, you make them grow, and on the morning when you plant them, you bring them to bud, yet the harvest will be as nothing in the day of disease and incurable pain.
Isaiah 18:4-5
This is what the Lord says to me:“I will remain quiet and will look on from my dwelling place, like shimmering heat in the sunshine, like a cloud of dew in the heat of harvest.” For, before the harvest, when the blossom is gone and the flower becomes a ripening grape, he will cut off the shoots with pruning knives, and cut down and take away the spreading branches.
Isaiah 28 has the following imagery twice. Here is one example:
Isaiah 28:3-4
That wreath, the pride of Ephraim’s drunkards, will be trampled underfoot. That fading flower, his glorious beauty, set on the head of a fertile valley, will be like figs ripe before harvest— as soon as people see them and take them in hand, they swallow them.
Isaiah 35:1-2
The desert and the parched land will be glad; the wilderness will rejoice and blossom. Like the crocus, it will burst into bloom; it will rejoice greatly and shout for joy.
Isaiah 40:6-8
All people are like grass, and all their faithfulness is like the flowers of the field. The grass withers and the flowers fall, because the breath of the Lord blows on them. Surely the people are grass. The grass withers and the flowers fall, but the word of our God endures forever.
Job 14:1-2
Mortals, born of woman, are of few days and full of trouble. They spring up like flowers and wither away; like fleeting shadows, they do not endure.
1 Peter 1:22-25
Now that you have purified yourselves by obeying the truth so that you have sincere love for each other, love one another deeply, from the heart.For you have been born again, not of perishable seed, but of imperishable, through the living and enduring word of God. For, “All people are like grass, and all their glory is like the flowers of the field; the grass withers and the flowers fall, but the word of the Lord endures forever.”And this is the word that was preached to you.
James 1:9-11
Believers in humble circumstances ought to take pride in their high position. But the rich should take pride in their humiliation—since they will pass away like a wild flower. For the sun rises with scorching heat and withers the plant; its blossom falls and its beauty is destroyed. In the same way, the rich will fade away even while they go about their business.
Psalm 37:18-20
The blameless spend their days under the Lord’s care, and their inheritance will endure forever. In times of disaster they will not wither; in days of famine they will enjoy plenty. But the wicked will perish: Though the Lord’s enemies are like the flowers of the field, they will be consumed, they will go up in smoke.
Psalm 103:15-18
The life of mortals is like grass, they flourish like a flower of the field; the wind blows over it and it is gone, and its place remembers it no more. But from everlasting to everlasting the Lord’s love is with those who fear him, and his righteousness with their children’s children— with those who keep his covenant and remember to obey his precepts.
2 Kings 19:26
Their people, drained of power, are dismayed and put to shame. They are like plants in the field, like tender green shoots, like grass sprouting on the roof, scorched before it grows up.
Photo by Sixteen Miles Out
The aroma of flowers in the Bible
To conclude this reflection on the meaning of flowers in the Bible, we can meditate on the following Scripture from 2 Corinthians.
2 Corinthians 2:14-16
But thanks be to God, who always leads us as captives in Christ’s triumphal procession and uses us to spread the aroma of the knowledge of him everywhere. For we are to God the pleasing aroma of Christ among those who are being saved and those who are perishing. To the one we are an aroma that brings death; to the other, an aroma that brings life.
May your life be like a bouquet of flowers that rise up with a sweet and pleasing smell to God. May He look on you with kindness all your days and may you come to know Him even more deeply as each new petal of your life unfolds.
What do you think flowers in the Bible mean? Let’s talk in the comments of this post about this beautiful theme that blossoms in the Bible.
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Resources used for researching flowers in the Bible:
– Bible verses were quoted from Biblegateway.com in the New International Version (NIV)
Eljoh Hartzer is combining theology and art to nurture faith journeys across generations. She is a Masters-level Practical Theologian with the University of Stellenbosch. She is also a writer and editor in the niche of Christianity and children's content and she illustrates children's books. Eljoh resides in the Swartland area in the Western Cape province of South Africa.
You can follow Eljoh on LinkedIn or Instagram.
